Education law faces a bipartisan rewrite

No Child Left Behind overhaul likely

by Nick Anderson - Feb. 18, 2010 12:00 AMWashington Post

WASHINGTON - Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce today that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress.

Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law, which mandated an expansion of standardized testing and established a national framework for school accountability. This month, President Barack Obama's budget proposed eliminating the standard of "adequate yearly progress" for schools to close test-score achievement gaps, a key element of the law.

Many analysts say time is growing short for passage of a major education bill before the midterm elections because Congress is consumed by the economy, health care and financial regulation, among other issues.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former U.S. Education secretary, said the most realistic approach would be to focus on a few fixes to the law that can attract consensus and save other reform issues for another time.

But in a joint statement, Reps. George Miller, D-Calif.; Dale Kildee, D-Mich.; John Kline, R-Minn., and Michael Castle, R-Del., pledged "a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind - a law that we all agree is in need of major reform. It will start with a series of hearings in the coming weeks to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead as we work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America."

Miller is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Kline is the ranking Republican, and Kildee and Castle are senior members. Miller said that forces are aligning this year for significant school reform. He said the administration's $4 billion Race to the Top competition for states has opened a national conversation about how to improve teaching and learning through better use of data on student performance.

Many educators are disenchanted with the law because it has led to thousands of schools being labeled as falling short of standards. But backers say the law has put an unprecedented spotlight on struggling schools and disparities in performance.